USCG issues violations for illegal fishing near Cape Romain

On Thursday, a US Coast Guard boarding team issued fishing and safety violations to the 44-foot fishing vessel 'The Long Line', after it was found actively laying and retrieving fishing pots in a prohibited area, 19 miles east of Cape Romain, South Carolina.

The US Coast Guard Cutter Cormorant noticed 'The Long Line' crew setting their pods Wednesday night and later retrieving the pods Thursday morning. A Cormorant boarding team conducted a living marine resources boarding and cited the crew for failing to comply with area restrictions.

The Long Line had approximately 800 pounds of illegally caught Black Sea Bass onboard and, as a result, it was also issued two safety violations.

The US Coast Guard and NOAA are in coordination to pursue civil penalty against the vessel’s captain for illegally fishing. The Long Line crew returned to their homeport in Little River, South Carolina.

In addition, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the US Coast Guard law enforcement crews detected and interdicted Mexican two lancha boat crews with a total of ten Mexican fishermen engaged in illegal fishing, off southern Texas.

The lanchas and 584 red snapper, totaling 2,814 lbs, were seized. The Mexican fishermen were detained and transferred to border enforcement agents for processing.

Since 1 October 2017, the USCG Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi has detected 70 lanchas, 20 of which were interdicted, that were north of the US-Mexico Maritime Border.